Rock Stars Beyond Time
by Rhearenee
Summary: Shadowwing1994 / Ami Magane we both now are writing this story. The Brawlers meet their past nightmare that they thought they had gotten rid of. Either way, he is back for revenge and what kind of sick game is he playing? Read to find out.
1. We Are The Champions

_Okay, I got an review that told me to re-write the story. When I read it I didn't know what to say, my mouth nearly hit the table. I was impressed and I'm not hiding it, so I have to say a _huge thanks to **Shadow Wing.**

_I remember the note at the end, but I only took it away because people were bugging me about rules and stuff (I know them anyway_). I'm really happy that someone gets inspiration from me, I'm practically speechless, such great ideas, I would be a fool if I leave it like this. I'm going to continue it and I'm going to try to follow shadow wing's ideas, but I will put in mine too to make it more interesting.

**Disclaimer:** It's useless to write because everybody already knows that I don't own Bakugan, it isn't called FanFiction for no reason.

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Rock Stars Beyond Time**

**Chapter one – We Are the Champions.**

Music was playing. The talent show had began and the sound of rock music reached my ears.

My hands were shaking. I knew it soon was our time to perform. I could hardly hold the red guitar in my hands, it was slipping out. The light that was shining on us was making me have stage fright, even when we are backstage. Lame, right?

My friends were nervous as well, except for Shun he looked calm, like always. Ace and Baron were shaking as well. Shun had the dark green base in his hands and Ace had the microphone. He was the singer. I wanted to be the singer, but the girls told me that I was better at playing the guitar. Screw them.

We were standing on the old creaking platform. Each time when I or someone else moved it made a loud creaking sound that was making me go psycho. I mean, c'mon, you're nervous and shaking, and the creaking noise is just making everything more horrible.

We all were dressed somehow in our usual clothes. (Didn't have time to change and now have to pay for that.)

"You guys, I don't think that I could do this. It's too much pressure on me." Baron whined behind the blue drum set. He was sitting on a chair, he was swinging to the side and the other to ease the pressure. I thought that he was the one who always cheers us up, but now he is the one whining, I can even keep my mouth shut.

"We will do it. I have come here and won't stop until get what I cam here for. Why do you think that you will make us drop out all because you are afraid of the spot light?" Ace commented Baron as he turned his head to face him. His green ruffled hair falling in his face at the process.

Those guys really don't know when to stop something. Usually it's me and Ace fighting, but the heat must got to Ace and he is really out of it.

I heard the audience applaud as another band came to the stage. It was Runo and the other girls. She did say something about preforming, but I didn't know that she actually would do it.

The both girls, Runo and Alice, were singing while Julie and Mira were playing the piano. The girls went for something simple. If I might say, they sound good. Unlike us they had time to make outfits and actually change.

Their performance was over. Everybody clapped for them. Even I did. Their performance was amazing and that is coming from me.

I heard Shun sigh besides me. "It's our turn." He said and the platform started to move.

"I really can't do this." Baron commented as he covered his face in fear of the lights. The bright light was shining down on us. I closed my eyes because the light was burning. When I opened them I froze in my place.

There were so many people in the audience. From afar I could see my parents watching. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

A man in a black suit came up. "And here we go the next performers. The band Baku-pod." The man yelled in the microphone. People clapped and waited for us to start.

I titled my head to the side Shun was standing. Shun nodded and Baron with shaking hands started playing the drums. Soon I and Shun joined him. Ace started to sing. The crowd was starting to like our song. There was some cheering already. They like us. This is unbelievable. In practice we stunk, but now we are perfect.

I turned my head from the crowd to the backstage. I saw Runo and she was cheering for us too. She was jumping up and down her blue ponytails swinging with her. Julie was screaming like a crazed fan girl. Alice and Mira were just enjoying the song.

Only then when I really looked at Runo I felt in character and went for the solo part. The feeling was great. The crowd cheering for me. I was feeling like I was already on the top.

The song ended and the crowd went wild. I looked at my friends. They were happy as well.

The stage took us back in the backstage. I heard the man in black suit say in the microphone "Well, folks, that was the end of today's talent show. We will turn to our judges who will say the winner."

I got of from the stage and wiped my face with a towel that Runo was handing me. "You did well." She said the happiness in her voice.

I sat a box that was near by. "Thanks, but your were better. You would deserve to win." I ruffled my hair with my hand. It was so hot up there.

"That doesn't matter we both were good." Runo beamed and turned away. I heard her say something under her breath, "We were better." Like always, the sarcasm.

My friends; Shun, Ace and Baron were talking with the other girls. Well, Shun was just standing, his eyes closed.

"Hey Dan!" Julie ran up to me and hugged my like there is no tomorrow. Really, what's up with that girl and the hugs if I can call them hugs, more like squeezes.

"I want to breathe Julie." I choked out while trying to get out of her grip.

She let me go. "You were so good. You totally deserve a kiss." She was ready to kiss me, her eyes closed, but I ran past her to hear the scores. "Hey, you didn't get your sweet kiss." Yeah, as if I wanted that.

"Had they told the scores yet?" I ran to the guys besides the curtains where we could see the stage.

"No." Was the simple answer from Shun. I peered at the judges who were discussing between them selves.

"This is making me nervous even more. Why do the put so much pressure in these kinds of competitions?" Baron practically squeaked while sweeping off the sweat that was on his forehead. Ace on the other hand was quiet and was glaring at the judges like he was cursing them or something.

I was starting to feel the pressure too. "What's taking them so long? This is starting to get irritating." I sat down on a black comfy chair that was behind me. Shun was besides me his eyes closed and he wasn't nervous. He was just sitting there as nothing special was happening. How come shun is able to stay so calm?

"Okay, here are the scores." I heard the school director say. My head lift up. "The third place goes to Chan Lee for her performance." Everybody applauded and Chan Lee came to the stage in a red dress.

"And the second place goes to Runo, Alice, Julie and Mira." I heard Julie squeal as she and the other girls ran up to the stage to get their prize.

When they came back Julie with the medallion in her hands jumped up in air. "I can't believe it we actually got a prize." The other girls were happy as well.

"Don't worry, Dan, you got the first place." Mira said as she sat down on the other side from me.

"How do you know?" I asked full of interest and confusion.

"I guessed. But really you will win. I just have this feeling that you will." Mira said and closed her eyes to relax for a minute from the squealing.

I turned my attention back to the headmaster. "And our first place winners are..." There was a drum roll and that was making me crazy, "The band Baku-pod." He said our name so fast that I didn't quite catch it. I only could tell that from the joy that Baron had.

"Told you." Mira said under her breath.

"Come on, Dan, we have to get to the stage." Shun called me. We all stepped on the stage, again in the spotlight only with the main prize in our hands.

Ace took the giant gold medal. "Thanks." He turned away from him and walked back to backstage. The headmaster had a weird expression on his face.

"Okay, well, our winners." He yelled and the audience clapped for us once more, "Do you have anything to say?" He asked us.

"I guess not." I shrugged and walked off the stage. We waved goodbyes' to the audience. They all were cheering for us and whistling. How weird is that?

When I got off the stage I was covered with questions and hugs from Julie. "Wow, you guys are the best." Julie squealed in my ear.

"Don't worry about her." Alice said, "You did really well and you all deserved that prize. Congratulations!" Alice said in a calm voice that actually calmed me down and I got Julie calmly off of me.

Whit all this cheering I forgot about Marucho. I haven't seen him today. He even didn't want to join us in the group. "Hey, has anyone seen Marucho? He wasn't in the audience." Everybody stopped cheering and gave a thought to this.

"Yeah, where is Marucho? He missed our performance." Julie tried to be angry, but it didn't look like it cause she has a high voice that could pierce ears.

This is really odd. He told us that he will be here, but he has to take care of some business first. Where is he?

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_Okay, I practically did nothing to this chapter only fixed some errors and detailed a bit more with Dan's thoughts_. _I will do the same with the second chapter._


	2. Past Portal

_So here is the second chapter. Though, I already passed one Shadow Wing's suggestion, but I'm going to put it in here._

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Chapter two – Past Portal.**

Running home from fan girls is the last thing that I imagined to happen to me, but here I am with my friends running away through the streets crowd of fan girls following us on our heels. The girl screams were ringing through my ears and that was already making it irritating, but no there was more to it. They wanted to do unbelievable things to us, I'm not going to mention them.

My girl friends were coming with us to, actually running. We wanted to celebrate it, but I don't think that we will make it alive. Not literally speaking.

We passed all kinds of shops until a old lady was in our way. She will be squashed under those girls. All the others passed her, but I bumped in to her and you guessed it fan girls were all over me. I had knocked the lady down on her face I was also with face down.

"I'm so sorry for bumping in to you." I tried to ignore the girls and help the old lady. She didn't look angry or anything else. She actually had a giant smile on her wrinkly face.

"My dear." I guess she saw the girls begging for autographs, "Is that your girlfriend?" She pointed to a blonde who was hugging my leg and begging for me to give her an autograph. What? Where did that come from? It was really weird that girls were crazy over us after our first performance. Something smells fishy.

"No, no. Those are...never mind." I shrugged off the girl and helped the old lady up. She still had the smile on her face, it was creepy and didn't look real. What is going on?

Then, out of nowhere, the old lady's hair turned from gray to blond and a mask appeared on her face or should I say his. It was Masquerade in flesh. I thought that he was killed.

"Kūsō Danma, you are going with me." He said in his obnoxious voice. He snapped his fingers and the girls were all over me, they were holding me down so I couldn't escape.

"I 'ain't going nowhere." I tried escaping, but the girls had a iron grip on me. I wasn't even touching the asphalt anymore. The girls were some kind of zombies or so and they were taking me to a purple whirlwind, "Where are you taking me?" I was still struggling, but saw it useless.

"My dimension where I have been living the past years. Oh, and for you guys to make it fun you will need to play a little game." He smirked his so popular smirk and I knew that he is up to no good.

I can't believe that he still is existing. I thought that Alice got rid of him and that he has done good and stuff, and that he would disappear for good. But, here he is.

"You aren't getting away with this." I yelled to him. He was going in front of me. I was still being carried by the girls. We already were in a different dimension it had no walls no floor, everything was a mixed purple with green.

"But I already did." He sneered back. He swiped his hand in the air and another portal appeared, "Throw him in, my dear ladies." The girls chuckled a bit and threw me in there. Before the portal disappeared Masquerade snarled, "I have more dirt to pick up." And the portal disappeared.

If I could describe my surroundings I could say that it was a jungle in the middle of nowhere. "Great..." I kicked a rock with my foot that was near by.

"Your first mission will be to save your girlfriend." A girl-ish voice echoed through the air, it sounded a bit jealous, "Oh, and don't hurt the dinosaurs." She added.

"She's not my girlfriend...who ever she is. Although I have a thought that it's Runo... And what dinosaurs?" I didn't have time to think anymore cause the ground was shaking and there coming was...a dinosaur. I gulped, "Oh, those ones. I have a really bad luck for a rock star..."

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You know where was the last time where we saw Dan. He bumped in to an old lady and got attacked by the girls. We got free, but another thing was weird that Runo soon disappeared.

"What's going on? All this disappearing..." Ace screamed/snarled and sat on the sidewalk. Somethings up, but only what...?

A light wind started blowing until a purple whirlwind appeared in front of me and out stepped Masquerade. What? I thought that he was gone for good. "Kazami Shun, I have cam for you." He snapped his fingers and a bunch of gargoyles grabbed me or at least I think that those are gargoyles.

"What do you want, Masquerade, from us?" Julie screamed in her high pitched voice.

"If you insist, then you are going in his place." The gargoyles dropped me and grabbed Julie ripping her pink shirt while doing so. She was screaming and struggling, but the gargoyles were holding her. The portal disappeared and I was standing there speechless, don't I always.

"Wow, she actually stood up for you." Baron said looking impressed. We all where standing there speechless on the side walk.

Soon we saw a girl run out of a store. She was wearing a light blue tee with dark blue jeans and a blue with white sneakers. She had a grocery bag in her hands. "Are you guys okay? I saw that freak. Did he hurt you? And what did he do to Julie?" She buried us with questions. It was Hero, I haven't seen her for a while.

Hero came out of her questioning look and spoke. "Hi, guys, long time no see." She said in a pleasant voice with a smile.

"Hi, Hero. I'm so happy to see you." Alice responded.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't make it to the talent show, but my grandma is sick and I have to help her. Anyway, why was Masquerade here?" Nether of us didn't get a chance to respond cause another portal appeared and it grabbed Hero.

Masquerade came out behind me. "You will come with me... With your girlfriend.." He sneered. I looked over to Alice only to see a scared and jealous face. Again the gargoyles appeared and this time they carried me inside. When they did that I heard the others scream at him. I heard Alice's smooth voice the best.

We went through a purpel-ish space and the gargoyles dropped me in a black hole. _Freaks... _I passed out.

When I woke up I only found my self getting up in a desert. I already was sweating. My feet slightly disappeared in the light sand, some of it even got in to my pants. "Your mission will be much more harder than the other freaks. You will have to save your redheaded whore and that black haired slut." A girls voice echoed through the air. It was clearly jealous and it sounded like nails scratching against a chalkboard.

"Can you at least give me some water or an umbrella?" I muttered under my breath, but the girl heard me.

"No. You will have to survive on your own. I can only hope that you will rot there." The voice screeched back in a taunting way, "Enjoy your way to the endless way to suffocation. Oh, and good luck finding any civilization signs." Her screeching had really put a mark on my ears.

I ignored her sentence and started walking. I didn't even go a kilometer when I already was almost naked (I had to take off my clothes or I would die from the hot air, but it was a bit foolish.) It's dang hot out here. Where am I? In Dakar or who knows where. It was also impossible to breathe. I wasn't used to hot air and it was burning my lungs. Just before passing out I saw a figure in a jungle tree. How did a jungle appear in the middle of a desert? Must be a mirage.

I couldn't take the heat and passed out.

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Masquerade is going down. He practically took everyone of my friends...well, everyone is everyone. Mira is gone and so is Baron. Masquerade got me too. He said that my...okay, a girl said it, that my mission was to save Mira or as she said it the redheaded cheerleader freak. I don't even know what it means.

Where I was? I was on a mountain. How did I guess that? It was cold and I can see the city line in the peak of the mountains. It was freezing. My feet were totally unfeeling and with my purple jacket wasn't enough to make me feel warmer, I was hugging my self just to keep the warmth alive. But I still was freezing.

I looked up to the sky only to see gray clouds and my green hair in icicle, many tiny icicles. "Great! It's about to snow and my hair is in a icicle. This can't get any worse." I could hardly yell, I was stuttering. I took a step forward only to fall deep in to the snow, till my waist. My hands touched the snow and they went red from the cold. Weren't they red enough? How will I get out?

I flinched when I heard a loud roar. I quickly got out of the snow hole, but fell in another one. The snow storm had started so my eye sight was lousy. The ground started shaking, so who ever was coming was big and weight a lot. "Who dares to stand in the way of Ace Grit?" Who ever was there it was in front of me.

Just then it was clear to me and I shivered more. It was big foot. I thought that he didn't exist or lived hundreds years ago, well, Marucho told me something like that. "Sorry Mr. Big foot for calling you a jerk. Oh, wait I thought that." By the looks the monster understood me and he went loco, "Shit..." He attacked me by grabbing me out of the snow and throwing me in the horizon.

How the hell I ended up so badly?

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_I fixed more mistakes, though I know I left some, I just didn't see them. As Shadow Wing told me: Hero is a friend of the Brawlers and she was created by A-Million-Words._


	3. Challenges: Dan Runo

_Here is the next chapter. Shadow Wing told me to leave it like it is, so I will, only I will proof read it and detail a bit more._

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Chapter three – Challenges: Dan/Runo. **

I have gotten away from the dinosaur, but it was frickin' hot in here. I mean, I'm in a jungle where it's wet. Then how could it be so hot?

I kept walking until I found on the ground a few strands of blue hair. "It must be Runos'. Who else could have blue hair?" The hair was filled with mud or at least I think its mud. Eww…its not.

"Dinosaur poo. I've never imagined to step in one. Not even touch one." I threw it away. I knew that Runo must be close.

I have walked a few kilometers and my legs are hurting. My shoes are ruined from the wet ground and the practically are falling apart. I took them off knowing that sooner or later they will. Suddenly I heard a scream. It made me throw the muddy shoes in the air.

"Runo!" I yelled out as the shoes fell back and landed on my head, "Great. Just perfect! I'm never going to find her. Why is this so hard?" I dropped on the ground on my knees hitting it. "Why do I fail at everything?"

"Oh, yeah, you do fail at searching for me. Why do I have to do it? While you're here lying on the ground and doing nothing." The voice seemed familiar. I looked up to see no other than Runo frowning at me. She had ripped her yellow dress and her hair was out plus she was muddy, just like me.

"Runo! You're okay." I got up and with out any thinking I hugged her.

She blushed a light pink. "Dan, you don't have to…" I let her go realizing at what I have just done.

I blushed and scratched my head. "Sorry, instinct."

With out any word we kept walking further. There has to be a way out and after all I found Runo…okay, she found me, but that only means that I passed the test.

"You didn't pass it. The challenge is only starting. Only one of you three will survive in this zone, so keep your eyes open." It was Masquerade. I could recognize his voice anywhere.

"What did he mean by three?" Runo asked while raising her brow.

"Yeah, there are only two of us. Learn to count, freak." I yelled out to the blue sky.

"Dan." Runo bugged me.

"Not now, can't you see that I'm being angry at him." I bugged back, not even looking at her.

She pulled on my shirt. "But Dan, there are some hungry dinosaurs coming this way and the look deadly." She pointed to a bunch of them.

My eyes widened. "Oh, that. Run!" We ran the other direction trying to find a place to hide. The dinosaurs saw us and started chasing us. For our dumb luck we found a cave. "I hope that he won't see us in there." We practically rolled into the cave entering and hoped that the dinosaurs would be stupid enough to not see us.

The T-rex got lost and couldn't find us. It snorted and walked away the ground shaking under his weight. "Is he gone?" A voice came from deeper of the cave.

"Who is there?" Runo asked bitterly.

Answer didn't came for a minute until a sudden squealing came and out jumped Julie. "Oh, Runo it's you. I'm so happy to see you." Julie jumped on me and gave me a big bear hug.

"Julie, I'm not Runo." I tired to breathe. She is pretty strong for a girl, especially in hugs.

"It's really nice to see you too." Runo had changed her voice to soft. Julie let me go and hugged Runo.

She let go of her. "You don't know what I have been through. First the masked freak grabs me then throws me into a jungle then dinosaurs ran after me and only then I found this cave." Julie stopped for a pause to look around.

"The same thing happened to us." I said. We had sat down on the cold rock floor. It was a rocky cave.

"I'm hungry. How about we go look for food." Runo suddenly suggested. She leaned her head against the black rock wall.

"It's a great idea. I'm starting to get hungry too." I got up from the ground and dusted my self which was a useless thing to do cause my shirt and jeans were ripped and dirty.

Julie on the other hand was sitting and wasn't going to get up. "I'm cold guys. I better sit here." She shivered.

"How could it be cold? I'm hot in here. Are you sure that you don't have a fever?" I touched her fore head and she was absolutely cold, but just a minute ago she was warm. I looked all over her till I found a sharp rock. She had cut her finger on it, I could tell 'cause there was red liquid on it.

"What is this place? You get fevers from cutting your finger." I said while examining the thin peace of rock. It seemed like peace of lava. I widened my eyes at what I just understood, "Were in a volcano side opening and looks like it's about to erupt." Like a sign the ground started to shake. Me and Runo ran out of the cave, but Julie didn't. She was too cold to move.

"Julie, c'mon. You have to hurry, it's going to interrupt." Runo yelled to Julie, but she didn't hear it. She was only was hugging her knees and shivering, she was whispering something too.

I ran out of the leaves. "I'm going after her."

"No." Runo grabbed my wrist before I could get any further, "It will blow up and you both will be gone. I don't want to lose you." Runo's voice at the end cracked.

"I promise, I will be okay. I can't leave her behind." I beamed at her. Runo carefully thought this through. She looked like she was about to cry, but she did otherwise, she let me go and smiled back, "Don't worry about me. I will be fine."

"Okay, but be careful." Runo sat back in the leaves out of the volcanoes way.

The volcano was a bit weird. It had a side opening from which lava could come out as well. Then the ground started shaking, even more harder than last time. I nearly kept my balance.

I was in front of the caves entrance. The landscape changed as soon as I stepped in. Julie was in the furthest corner, plus it was really hot here. From a distance I could see a red liquid coming this way. I have to hurry or it's bye-bye for both of us.

I ran to Julie on hot feet. Really the floor was hot, it even was red. "Come on, Julie." I tired to get her up, but she weighed like a ton. She was still cold. "Why won't you move?" I screamed out while trying to budge her out of her place. I won't be able to stand here any longer, my feet are already burning.

I was sweating like a pig, but Julie was still cold even when it was fifty degrees. Something is wrong. "Dan! Hurry up, the lava is coming your way!" Runo yelled from outside.

Then my realization of this situation came. "Wait! This isn't Julie. She was here, but not here. This is an imposter." Another rumbling came and this time my feet were burning even more. The floor was melting and so was the Julie imposter. I have to get out of here before I die.

I was trying to run out of there, but it wasn't that easy. The floor was breaking after me revealing a lava river. Just a little bit more and I'll be out. I hardly made it as the lava bursted out. I jumped sideways and landed on Runo who was watching it all from a distance. I got up and grabbed Runo's hand and dragged her away from that place. Not even caring about my injuries from the hot ground.

We ran at least a kilometer away from that place until we were safe.

"…Crazy…" Runo stuttered and leaned against a tree to rest.

But I still had a feeling that something is up. "Huh…This isn't over yet. I can feel it." I panted and slumped on the leaves that were covering the whole ground.

"What is Masquerade up to? He almost got you killed." Runo slumped besides me. We both, head to head, were resting in the giant leaves watching the clouds pass by.

"That was the plan…," Came the same voice as always. It was Masquerade. He was clearly disappointed that I was still alive, "...but you survived. Don't worry my friend the survival goes on. One down two to go." The voice slowly disappeared.

"So… that means that Julie is dead," Runo squeaked. "I thought that that was a imposter," she squeaked again.

"I don't know…I really don't know."

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_Alright, the next chapter will change more than this one_. _I know that in this chapter I had more bright ideas than with Shun/Alice and Ace/Mira, though, as now I'm re-writing the story the chapters will change._


	4. Challenges:Shun Alice

_Now here starts the real re-writing. And as I have told before in the previous chapters: I have to say thank you to **Shadow Wing **for the great ideas.  
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Challenges: Shun/Alice**

I felt something hard hit my head. I didn't open my eyes, but when I got up (my eyes still closed) I bumped my head against something and I fell back in the place where I was before, unconscious. But before I did that I saw a girl's silhouette.

Minutes passed until I opened my eyes and yawned. The girl I saw before was Hero. She had brought me out of the desert and into the jungle, under a tree. So that's why I hit my head. Stupid branch, I will kill you later.

"Boy, you were out long and why the heck did you hit your head on the tree branch?" She asked, giggling a bit. Nice way to support me when I had a trauma, but I know that she didn't mean it.

I rubbed my head and looked up only to see a thin tree branch. I frowned at my own weakness. "How should I know? I was tired 'cause of the desert. You know it's pretty hot out there." I tried to protect my dignity and not look like a wimp. Man, I had just embarrassed myself in front of a girl.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I'm just happy that you are okay…oh, and I found some fruit – bananas. Though, it was hard to get them," Hero beamed and gave me a bunch of bananas she had stored into a giant leaf. I munched them down in no time. I was tired and hungry. "You know I saw some cute animals here too. I think one of them was a sloth and a gorilla." Hero implied as I was just done with the bananas. Animals, huh? I thought that this was a freak show.

"Whatever. Have you seen Alice? She had to be here too…well, 'cause Masquerade said that I will have to save two girls from… something and I bet that Alice is the other one." Or I think so. Ugh...I don't know my head hurts too much.

Hero lost her grin and put on her thinking face. "No. I don't think so." You know, when I think about it, she can be pretty annoying, but in a good way.

"Fine. We'll go look for her." I tired to get up from the ground, but for my bad luck, again, I hit my head on the branch which then got stuck into my hair (which was long). I growled, frowned. Why the heck I have such bad luck all the time?

"Here, I will help you with this." Hero rushed over and helped me get my hair out of the little tree branch. I can just feel that this is going to hurt. She easily ripped the branch out of my hair. It hurt like hell; she even ripped my hair out. See I told you. "It wasn't that bad?" I smiled a painful smile. Hero threw the branch in the bushes still grinning.

I touched the part where she ripped the stick out and I think that I felt a hole there. How am I going to explain that to my grandfather? "Is everything okay?" Hero asked. She examined my head.

I really didn't want her too, but she did. "Yes! Everything is okay. I'm fine."

"But, Shun, you have a little hole here. Here, I'll cover it up with the rest of your hair. It will grow back." She was still grinning, but I have to thank her she re made my long ponytail. "Here, all done. No one will know that you are going bald." She giggled at her own joke.

"Ha, ha, very funny." I fake laughed with her, "I can only hope that my grandfather doesn't see it," I thought out loud.

"Don't worry, he won't know a thing." Hero implied. Hmm, I still wonder, how was she able to make me feel better.

We started to walk in complete silence. We walked like that for a while until...we reached nothing. I feel like the jungle is never ending.

Then, out of nowhere, Hero spoke up, "I think I saw something there or was it there." Hero lead me through the many leaves that were in her way. Until we were standing in front of a junction. A pathway junction. I can only wonder, how the hell that got there? "I think we should go right." Hero went right, but I grabbed her hand.

"No, we should go left. That path looks safer." I tired to warn her. It's really obvious that the right path is filled with traps.

"Pfft. I know when a path looks dangerous and when it's not." She ignored my sentence and walked right.

"Wait! Hero, it could be booby trapped." I was trying to run after her before something bad happens to her, but then she disappeared out of my sight. "Hero, where are you?" She couldn't be dead, I just saw her.

Only then I heard something come from above me. "Uhmm, Shun, can you, please, get me down? It's kinda uncomfortable up here." I looked upwards and saw Hero tied up in a net.

I felt revealed that Hero was alive. "I told you that there would be traps." I pointed out the obvious.

"Okay, I was wrong, I admit it. But please hurry, my hand is getting numb," she started to whine up there, but who could blame her? She is sitting there in an uncomfortable pose. I sighed, cracked my knuckles and jumped on the tree. I untied the main knot that was holding the net in the air and Hero landed on the ground with a loud thud.

I jumped back on the ground and helped Hero get up. "If it wasn't for me then you would be hanging there till you rot." I implied while taking Hero's hand and dragging her back to her feet.

"Thank you, but I know that that could have happened. No need to remind me," she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

I ignored that sentence and started to walk further by taking the left pathway. Hero followed me, she didn't say a word.

After a while, I was already drained out. It was hot and wet. Hero wasn't feeling no better. It was until we reached a big tree standing in the pathway. Unlike other trees, this one had more vines around it. I could only sigh. We will have to walk all around it.

I was ready to walk when I heard a voice, "Shun, is that you?" It came from above me. I looked up to see the voice's owner and it was no other than Alice.

"Alice!" I was glad that she was okay and so was Hero. Though, Alice was trapped in that tree. Vines were around her and from the looks of it the vines were choking her. "I'm going to help you to get out." I finally found her. I couldn't let her die.

"No! Wait, Shun! You must be careful, the vines can grab you and trap you like they did to me." Alice warned me before I started to climb the tree.

"What kind of tree is it then? I've never heard something like that." Hero was thinking out loud.

"Well, whatever it is, it's deadly and I have to get you out, Alice, no matter what." I don't care about the vines, I only care about Alice.

When I started to climb the tree, the vines were coming after me. Alice wasn't kidding. I jumped out of their way before they can catch me, but for my bad luck one of them caught my leg. "Damn, this."

"Hold on, Shun, I'm going to help." Hero yelled from the bottom. She grabbed the vine's root that was holding my leg and started to pull on it. Eventually, the vine let go of my leg and fell down. I was free to move forward. I reached Alice in no time. I was trying to get her out of the vines but they were too strong.

"Hero, can...you help...me with this?" I was already panting. No wonder that Tarzan was able to swing on them, they don't rip apart that fast.

"Uh, okay, but I'm not such a good climber," Hero implied.

I sighed, "Here, take my hand and I will help you get up." As I wasn't so high in the tree and I was standing on a tree branch I would be able to pull Hero off the ground with ease. Hero jumped off the ground and hardly caught my hand. Maybe I was wrong, it was harder than I thought. Whit one hand, I held on to the trunk of the tree, so I won't fall down while with the other I was holding Hero. But I pulled her up, somehow. When I did that we fell back a little and Hero landed on top of me, not entirely then we would have fallen on the ground. It was a bit embarrassing, though.

"Shun, please hurry," Alice panted out.

Oh, yeah, that's right. Hero got off me and this time we both were trying to get the vines off of Alice. The vines eased up on Alice's neck and then rest of her body. She was drained of her energy, so I caught her before she fell any further.

Masquerade has gone too far, he needs to be stopped before someone really gets hurt. And if no one will do anything I will just go and strop him myself. Just look at what he has done to Alice. Her bright orange locks now are muddy and her purple dress is practically shredded, not to mention her face: scratched, bruised and a bit bloody. I bet that I'm not looking any better than she is, neither is Hero.

I jumped off the tree and Hero followed me, she only slide-ed down on the bole.

Alice was unconscious and I was tired. I really don't know if I will be able to go on.

* * *

_Okay, guys, I like totally forgot about this. I have been so busy with_ Grand Chase _that I forgot about this. I will write a second part for this. _

_Right now I just found about the LU, Literate Union. There are many heartless grammar Nazi's who report people's stories, but only the bad ones, so I say, please watch out and try to listen to them if they catch you, if so they might report you, so I say, please try your best on your stories and grammar_ '_cause you really can't know when the will find you. I have been lucky. _

_And to answer _Tozase-Murcielago's _questions I have to say: yes, I'm re-writing the story, I really needed to fix some mistakes. And yes, I am from Latvia (which I have already mentioned to you). Plus, thanks for the tip. _

_And I'm also happy that you, Shadow Wing, liked it, after all you inspired me to re-write this.  
_


	5. Challenges: Shun Alice Part 2

_Okay, as now I got tired of my drawing, so I'm going to update the next chapter of Challenges: Shun/Alice. As always a huge thanks to ShadowWing1994. Thanks to all of my reviewers. _

_

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_

**Chapter five – Challenges: Shun/Alice Part 2**

Now it was only the question of time.

The two dark heads were walking through the deep, never ending jungle. Bot of them getting more tired by every step. Alice still wasn't conscious. Shun had to carry her all they way, no matter that, they had to escape this simulation before it kills them.

The jungle air was getting more damp and it was getting more crowded as the trees were growing more closer and closer to each other. It was almost impossible to move on.

Nevertheless, Shun and Hero kept going, but they had energy only for a while.

„How about we rest for a few minūtes? I can't feel my legs anymore." Hero didn't wait for Shun's response, she just slumped herself on the ground full of big leaves. She was taking deep breaths and was blankly staring at the clear, blue sky.

„Fine, we should, but only for a few minutes." Shun placed Alice carefully on the ground besides a giant tree that made her a great head rest. While doing so Alice mad a little whimper. She was only sleeping.

The quiet moment didn't last long as the T-rex had come back. He had suffered the taste of disappointment of a snack runaway, he isn't going to make the same mistake, his programing didn't allow him that.

The roar that he made out made the three jump up in air. Suddenly Alice wasn't feeling so sleepy anymore and Hero and Shun had found their strength again.

Shun was the first one who reacted: he grabbed Hero's and Alice's hands and made a run for it.

The T-rex felt amusement at the three running snacks. He was faster than them, he was bigger and he was deadlier. He was another simulation, but the T-rex had no idea, he only knew that his purpose is to eat the Brawlers.

„Why does this keep happening to us?" Her asked to no one in practical. She was already tired, but the running will drain her whole energy.

Though Alice heard the question. „I don't want to sound rude...," Alice tripped over a branch, but got her balance back, „...but it's the fault of Masquerade and partly it's my fault as well. I let him go. And once we got separated he developed a body of his own," Alice, practically, panted the words out. The other two only took the note by a slight nod.

The T-rex was gaining on them and he felt hungry.

Hero was feeling like she is going to give in on the panicky feeling, but Shun was pulling her with such force that she didn't even have time to think about it much.

While the two girls were forced to run by him, Shun thought out a plan. They only had to ditch the dinosaur and to do that they had to hide. Under the big leaves could be great, but he might step on them and squash them. In an accidental cave would be great too, but no such luck. Then Shun got it, they had to make a sharp turn and confuse the T-rex, by climbing themselves in a tree.

He didn't tell the girl his plan, so the two got confused and scared at the same time when Shun took a sharp turn the T-rex's way (not that they weren't scared before, they got even more terrified). They hid behind the tree.

„Hurry! Up the tree," he instructed the girls. The both girls looked at him weirdly, but did as told. Shun followed them up.

The T-rex did seem confused a bit, but he had an excellent smell (Shun didn't think out that part). He simply stopped in front of the tree and looked up at the three with is red eyes.

Hero almost screamed in horror. They all were sitting in the tree and when Hero grabbed Shun out of the awe, they both almost fell down.

„Guys, what do we do know?" Alice asked, not really being comfortable with Hero around Shun. Shun wasn't feeling so great himself.

The T-rex got in big despair, he really didn't know what to do if his snacks decided to take a climb. He made a disappointed roar and turned around to leave.

Both, Alice and Shun, felt revealed that the danger was over. Hero, on the other hand, didn't see anything as she had her eyes closed and she had jumped on Shun and clamped him as a big teddy bear. Shun could only hold him self barely on the branch.

„Umm...Hero? The dinosaur left. You can let me go now," Shun stuttered a bit as he had to hold his weight and Hero's weight on the branch.

Hero didn't move and didn't open her eyes. „No. He will come back, I can just feel it. I'm still scared," Hero said a bit stubbornly. Alice got a little bit annoyed by her actions, but she kept a straight face. After all, she isn't Runo, who would burst out with anger at some little things.

As Hero predicted the T-rex came back. He had planed to bump into the tree and shake them down.

The T-rex shook the tree by bumping into it with his head. The first shake did nothing much only Shun almost lost his balance. Alice was holding on to the tree's trunk staring in awe at the dinosaur.

The T-rex made an another shake, only this time Shun lost his balance, but before he fell he grabbed the branch and held onto Hero too. Alice on gasped. The T-rex saw this as his chance. He will try to catch them when they fall down.

„Hero! Are you okay?" Shun asked the dark haired girl who was hanging on his hand once again.

„I'm half fine half not. Why are you asking?" Hero said sarcastically. She was obviously closer to the T-rex's mouth and her life depended on Shun, who was hanging as well.

Shun ignored her sarcasm. Now he was trying to swing her up on the branch before the dinosaur can get to her. „I'm going to swing you back up," he told Hero his intends.

„What!" Hero was once again shocked. She had enough entertainment for one day. Alice, who was the only one who was partly safe from the dinosaur, was paralyzed by fear. She had never felt like that before.

The T-rex was jumping up and down trying to reach Hero. Shun couldn't waist no more time. He started to swing Hero from one side to another till he was able to throw her up back on the branch. Now only Shun was hanging.

The dinosaur king had gotten tired of games. He bumped once more into the tree. It was a fatal outcome that Shuns' finger's slipped and he let go before Hero nor Alice could catch him. Both girls stared in awe how Shun got eaten by the dinosaur king.

The T-rex had had his snack and he was up to for something bigger. He had no more interest in the girls. He simply left, his tail swinging back and forth.

Both, Alice and Hero, kept staring at the ground, still not believing.

Alice suddenly spoke up: „It's your fault that he is gone." It wasn't like her to point fingers, but it was clearly Hero's fault that one of the greatest ninjas was now dead.

„What! I didn't see you doing anything," Hero spat back at her. Alice realized what she had said and she was truly sorry. She had been a bit annoyed by Hero's actions with Shun. Though, it was only natural that a person could get scared when something big comes to eat you.

„I'm sorry, Hero. It's not your fault. It's mine." Alice let a few tears fall. She was still slumped to the tree's trunk.

Hero got a little sympathy too, it's not like she is a unfeeling whore. „No, Alice, it's not your fault. It's not nice to point fingers or anything, but it's neither of our faults. Masquerade is behind all this." Hero hugged her knees closer to her. She was still scared, so she was shaking a bit.

Alice knew that it is true, but she couldn't help, but fell guilty.

_I'm sorry, Shun, that I let you down._

_

* * *

_

_Okay, I finally got it done. My current music is Miku Hagane and Miku Hatsune – Sweet So Sweet, my little notes. _

_Okay, now I will get right on Ace and Mira. I really did push my self to write this I even yelled at myself, but I got it down. Tell me what you think. Is Alice in character or not cuz I have told that I have trouble with keeping Alice in character._


	6. Challenges: Ace Mira

_Here is the next chapter. My current music is Miku Hagane – Too Late. _

_

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_

**Chapter six – Challenges: Ace/Mira**

I flew through the sky and never met the ground. Boy, was he was strong. But I knew that my end will come soon. I just hope that it won't be painful.

Later I saw the ground coming in. I hoped that it would be snow, but it was soled rock. I'm dead. I never really got the courage to tell Mira that I love her. I was a wimp and now I won't get the chance.

"Mira, I love you," I screamed out, just to let it of off my chest. Why oh, why did I chicken out last time? It was a perfect moment. Oh, wait here is my end.

I prepared for the impact, but it never came. I opened my eyes only to see that I was hovering in air. "How is that possible? I'm not superman."

"Think again." Someone was under me. I had landed in a net made of wines.

I titled my head to the side where the voice came from. It was Mira, though she was a bit messy. "Mira! How did you do that?" A stupid question. I should have asked something else. "You didn't hear the…thing…I screamed out." I said while stuttering. Maybe it would be a good thing if she did then I won't have to tell it again.

Mira made a confused face. "What thing? I was making a trap for animals so I could catch myself food, but you like a flying pelican nested in my net." Flying…what? What the heck is a pelican?

"Would you get me down? My whole body is freezing." I couldn't take the shaking. I'm no wimp that has to shake like he had just seen a ghost and peed his pants. It really can be annoying.

Mira frowned, but cut the net open and I fell out of it face first. "You are going to pay for that later." My mouth was crashed against a rock, so the words coming from my mouth weren't clear.

"What did you say, pelican?" Mira leaned down smirking. She is enjoying this, I hate that.

I slowly got up. "Ha, ha weary funny. I think that I lost a tooth." I checked my mouth. Mira chuckled a bit. "By the way where are we?"

"In the jungle," Mira said like it was the most obvious thing on the planet. Sarcastic much. "By the way, Baron is here too, he just went to the other side to get food," Mira added before I could speak of my own.

"Yeah, fine." I leaned against a tree and touched my jaw. I bet it was going to be blue 'cause the fall was just horrible. I would rather be squashed under a road roller than have broken teeth. Yes, I broke on of my teeth. She is going to pay for that. Really, she is going to pay for my dentist appointment. It was her fault.

Soon I was pushed out of my nice standing position. "Come on. We must find Baron and tell him that I found you or more like you flied to me." Mira giggled a bit, but kept herself calm.

We started walking side by side. Suddenly Mira spoke up, "You stink like a wet rat." Mira plugged her nose just to annoy me. I was wet from the snow I had been in. Dramatic, sarcastic, what is going to be next? "OMG what is that?" I just had to ask.

"What?" I titled my head so I can see past Mira. There a dinosaur was running our way. "What the heck is that?"

Mira grabbed my arm, so I didn't have time to examine it more. "It's a dinosaur, you idiot."

"I know. You yourself were yelling "What is that?"" I mocked her trying to get back at her.

"Whatever, this isn't the time to argue," Mira replied, trying to ignore me.

We hid in the bushes trying to hide from the big bad dinosaur. I was starting to get a little comfortabelw ti the closeness of me and Mira, but suddenly Baron showed up from nowhere. I really did scare me, but I didn't yelp like Mira.

Mira stood up. "You, idiot, you scared me." She punched Baron in the arm.

"Ow. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm just here to tell you that there is a dinosaur running around," Baron said.

Mira did seem annoyed after that. She didn't even bother to say anything to Baron.

Then we did hear this roar meaning that the dinosaur had seen us.

"You guys run, I will try to distract him. You guys try to lean him into a trap then we will have dinner for sure." Wow, Baron actually made a good plan. We, me and Mira, nodded and made a run for it while Baron distracted the dinosaur.

While we were running through the jungle, Mira spoke up, "Ummm…Ace…?" I felt that my heart really started to pound faster. Maybe she feels the same way. "I'm sorry for making you fall on that rock, it was truly an accident." Not really what I expected.

"Ummm…It's nothing, Mira. I will just need to go to the dentist to fix some teeth." Mira smiled a small smile at me. Everything is fine…well, except the thing that we have to find a way how to trap that pesky dinosaur.

"How about we use my net that I made to catch the dinosaur?" Mira suggested. It could be a good idea.

No minute after, Baron came back running to us, he had the dinosaur right on his heels. "Run, guys!" Baron ran past us. We didn't say only followed his example.

Did I mention that I have a bad luck? Well, I have. We reached a dead end – a cliff.

"Uh…What…now?" I asked to no one in particular.

"We make him fall off the cliff," Mira exclaimed and ran towards the cliff. Is she crazy, she might fall herself?

"Mira, wait! You have to think this trough," I tried telling her, but she didn't listen. She was standing on the edge of the cliff and waving her hands trying to get the dinosaur's attention and worked. The dinosaur changed his direction from us to Mira.

I tried running to her to save her, but I didn't made it as the dinosaur grabbed her and they both fell down the cliff. I only could stare in the dark alley they fell in.

"Dude, that was lame," Baron whispered.

I snapped back at him, "Shut up, can't you see that she sacrificed herself to keep us safe from that monster and I didn't even have a chance to tell her." Baron only stared at me with confusion, he really didn't know about what I was talking about.

_I'm sorry Mira._

_

* * *

_

_Well as far as this I'm going as ShadowWing1994 told me only I made some parts different and made some parts lame. I just have a great mood today as yesterday at night I thought of two really funny comics. Yup, I do all my best stuff at night. _

_My entertainment now is Rin Kagamine – Meltdown. I'm telling yah this because I'm bored and dunno what to do with notes. _

_Anyway, tell mah whacha think. Probably they acted stupid at some parts._


	7. A Block in The Road

_Well, here is the next chapter, this one wasn't written by me but by **shadowwing1994**, I'm just putting in some parts that I think are necessary._

_

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_

**Chapter 7 - A Block in The Road **

Both guys made their way through the bushy jungle. Ace walked in silence the whole time, no matter how bad Baron tried to talk to him he never said a word. Every now and then, the image of Mira falling from the cliff flashes in his mind. When this happens; tears would fall from his eyes.

He always liked her for so long; she was the one who gave him Percival, how he wished he never left him back home when he decided to come to earth, maybe he would have been able to save her. They shared a lot and fought together in many occasions and it did not take long for him to fall in love with her. But now nothing of that mattered; because she is gone! And he could have saved her, but he was too stupid to move and stop her from doing it.

"Ace, c'mon! We can't stay in grief the whole time; we must go find the others and get out of here," Baron said while giving a playful punch on Ace's shoulder. Baron was sad of the loss as well, but his never ending optimism told him to keep going. They both had to move on if they don't want to have the same fate as Mira.

"What's the use of getting out of here without her? Nothing matters any more, Baron," Ace mumbled under his nose, his head down and eyes closed.

"Ace, don't say-" Baron stopped talking; he heard a sound coming from behind the bushes. Baron grabbed a knife made of a branch and a sharp stone he had made with Mira, and took a fighting position.  
"Show yourself!" Baron commanded.

"Baron, Is that you?" A familiar voice spoke, it was Dan! Baron felt relieved and put the knife back in his pocket. Dan and Runo along side Alice and Hero, who they met a few moments ago, got out of the leaves to find Baron and Ace standing in front of them. Baron jumped on Dan and gave him a manly hug, "Master Dan, you're alive!"

"Yes Baron, but I want to breathe!" Dan said while shoving Baron off of him. This caused Runo and the girls to laugh. After a while, they all sat down on a near by tree stem and started eating some fruits Alice and the others had gathered.

"It's good that we found you, we were worried," Alice said.

"Ya, we only need to find Mira," Hero said. Ace and Baron stopped eating, silence covered the place, an awkward one.

"Mira…she…she died," Ace managed to say after sometime breaking the silence. The whole group was shocked, it looked to them that every triple team lost a member.

"I don't believe it! First Julie, then Shun and now Mira. How did this happen?" Dan asked while showing his hands in the air. It seemed that this had been a chain reaction that effected each triple team.

"She sacrificed her life to save us from the T-rex. She fell with it from a cliff," Baron said in a low voice while putting away his half eaten banana.

"Those crap dinosaurs, one of them a-ate Shun," Hero said. She was the one who was shocked the most, she never had experienced this kind of things and it was effecting her psychologically. Unlike Hero, Alice at the mention of Shun, Alice's tears started falling, she never stopped blaming herself for his death. Runo came closer to her and she and Hero gave her a hug. It made her feel a tad bit better.

Dan also let out a tear or two when he heard the news of his childhood friend's death. But, it was time for someone to stop this and get the group out of their current stage.

"Guys, I'm sad and angry, but we must return back. This thing has to end," Dan said after standing up taking his place as their leader.

"Master Dan is right! Let's go!" Baron agreed excitement in his voice. He jumped up as well.

"Going so soon?" A voice spoke, it was Masquerade! He appeared in front of them, floating, with one of his assistants flying next to him.

The others stood up and wished at this moment that they had wings, so they could fly up there and kick his butt! But they don't, they only looked at him with angry faces.

"What do you want, freak?" Dan asked angrily.

"Why don't you come down and I'll kill you and get my revenge on Mira's death." Ace stood up, his face returning to its normal color once again. He swore to himself that he will stab him and his assistant.

"Now, now, why do we have to do this the hard way? I'm here only to give you an offer," He said in a slick voice.

"Not that you deserve it," the blond girl said and showed them her tongue. Obviously, she despised them.

Dan looked at the others for a second, Runo mouthed that he listens to him and see, Dan returned to look at masquerade and told him to continue.

"You must make the choice, either to leave this place or to stay in it for another while," he said, a purple whirled appeared in front of them. The brawlers eyed him suspiciously; why on earth would he ask this? He is the reason why they're here in the first place. He has something hidden under his skin.

"What's behind you Masquerade?" Alice said, she knew he was planning something worse than this for them.

"Clever; as usual. You can leave if you want, but you must know that your little friend, Marucho is hidden somewhere in this world. If you leave then he'll stay here forever, if you decide to stay, then my little game isn't over," he said and let out an evil laugh. His assistant Irma grinning besides him. She loved this part.

"You're sick!" Runo said disgusted.

"Maybe," Masquerade waved his hand like it was nothing special. "What's your choice?"

The brawlers formed a circle, to talk and see what they are going to do.

"Maybe it's a lie, who knows if he really got Marucho," Hero said; suspicion growing.

"I don't know, but I see that we mustn't take any chances," Dan said.

"I'm with you, I know Masquerade better than anyone. I think he meant it," Alice said, and she was right; if anyone knew Masquerade it will be her.

They broke up the circle and looked up to face masquerade, Dan told him that they will stay. Masquerade's famous evil smirk appeared on his face.  
"Very well, then your new mission will be, finding your little friend. Remember, the rules are still the same; only one will survive!" He left again with his assistant, while laughing.

"Master, why would you do such a thing?" Irma asked, when they were away from the brawlers. Masquerade hadn't informed her on his plan and she was dying to know what kind of suffering he has planned.

"The seven are lost in this place, even if they found him; still they will fight to get out of here. It will be fun to see them destroying each other, and I did prepare some surprises, so if they don't kill each other; my pets will do the job. I will taste the sweet revenge when I fight the last one left, my other half will not accept it, but I'll make him!" he explained the girl with a smug smirk on his face. The girl looked at him, impressed of her Master's plan. It was pretty good for her standards.

The six brawlers sat on the wet ground of the jungle; discussing on how could they find Marucho.  
"Ok, so Marucho is some where in this jungle, it shouldn't be hard to find him," Dan stated and Runo agreed with him.

"But maybe he's in the desert," Hero pointed out.

"Or he's hidden in the ice mountains," Ace said. Chills still went down his spine, he couldn't bare to take another minute in that cold. Dan and Runo's eyes widened, they didn't know the place was consisting of two more places!

"There could be more places, we don't exactly know how many and it's an even bigger obstacle, " Alice had a point there. Masquerade had made this place never ending and it could contain more than the jungle, desert and ice mountains.

Dan was partly speechless and so was Runo, they both never thought of that and they thought that the desert and ice mountains would take a long time, but it might end as an never ending game.

"Any one has any ideas one where to start?" Baron asked.

"Either way, we must search those places we know together; I don't think we must split again," Alice suggested. It's gonna be a long ride and the more they stick together the more they'll be safe.

"I'm with her! Going to the ice mountain first will be better," Baron said and every one asked "why?" they are already in the jungle better start from here.

He came close to Dan's ears and whispered something only heard for the both of them; Dan took a look at Ace, who was spaced out staring at the sky, and turned again to face Baron.

"You're right. Now c'mon, Ice Mountain here we come!" Dan yelled encouraging them. They all stood up with him and raised their fists in the air.

_**We are coming Marucho… **_

_**

* * *

**Okay, I read through it and added my ideas as well, so it really doesn't look like my writing, but I fixed the mistakes (mainly grammar) so I hope that you all could understand it. From this place the ideas came from **shadowwing1994**, so I'm also curios. _

_Tell me what you think and I will tell shadowwing as well, we want to know is this a good re-write or not. _

_Thank you for reading.  
_


	8. The Iced Ending

_Here is the next chappie for ya. I'm telling you that shadowwing1994 is doing a really good job and I'm helping with it.  
_

**

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Chapter 8 - The Iced Ending**

The blue-haired girl woke up, terrified, in the middle of the night. She was sweating and gasping for air. She was having another dream of hers, a dream she saw every night since the day they were trapped here, but this time it was different.

She slowly got out of her frozen bed, and made her way towards the curved window in the iced wall. She took a deep breath, she tried to forget, but the images were too harsh, to be forgotten that easily.

Tears started falling from her eyes; she was surprised that she still has tears left. She looked out side at the starry night, a set of unwanted pictures flashed in her mind…

…

…

_The brawlers were walking through the thick snowy coat the earth had put on. Every one of them was shivering and hugging themselves to get some warmth, but it wasn't working._

_They have been looking all day, well, it was hard to tell since there was no sun visible, but they could tell it was a very long time! Their bare feet turned red from coldness and their breath was freezing the minute it leaves their mouths, which only shows how cold it was._

_"This is… w-why I-I… hated this… place!" Ace managed to say. "How… a-are…we going…to f-find…maru-…cho anyway," he finished. Everyone else had the same question in their heads! Every thing around them was white and the more they get deeper in; the more they feel that they are lost themselves._

_"I don't k-know…for sure, but…all…we can do...I-is call for him," Dan suggested. The brawlers started shouting Marucho's name again and again, but it didn't seem to have any effect._

…

…

_After a while of looking, they managed to find a cave, which was a little warmer than the outside. Dan and Runo didn't quite feel comfortable about staying there, because of what happened to Julie, but they knew they had to stay in for a while._

_So, Alice, Baron, Runo and Ace stayed in the cave, while Hero and Dan volunteered to go and take a look around. The others lighted a fire by scratching two stones over a pile of wood they brought back from the jungle._

_Their toes returned to their normal color after a while of sitting in front of the fire._

_"I hope Dan is ok," Runo said looking out of the cave at the, now, much darker sky._

_"Hey, I see that you worry about Dan much these days," Alice said looking at Runo with narrow eyes. An instant blush appeared on Runo's face, she quickly turned her face to hide it, but it was too late._

_"I-I don't, it's…just, he's still a friend you know!" Runo said; the same color of pink on her cheek._

_"S-u-r-e," Alice teased a bit._

_"I'm just happy that you guys are still…together." She barely managed to say the last word._

_"You miss him a lot, don't you," Runo stated._

_"Ya, nothing is the same without him. Sometimes I wish that I was dead too," Alice said and made a huff.  
_

_"No, please. Don't say this, Alice. Your grandfather still needs you; beside you still have all of us here. Right?" Runo said giving Alice a hug. The red headed girl only nodded._

…

_"Hey, YES WARMTH!" Dan squealed right after entering the cave, and quickly made his way to the fire pushing Runo in the process._

_"DAN, YOU IDIOT!" Runo shouted at him and gave him a hit on his head. _

_"Awwwww," Dan shouted in pain, which caused everyone to laugh. The two glared at each other.  
_

_"It took us a while to find you guys; we were searching for hours!" Hero said, as she took her seat next to Baron. "We have good news and bad news; the bad news is that a blizzard is coming and most likely we'll be buried alive!" she said._

_"And, the good news are?" Ace asked; deep down still knowing that the good news are no good news. _

_"We saw a castle made of snow not far away from here, I think we can use it as a shelter," Hero said. Maybe he was wrong...or not.  
_

_"Ya, and we still remember how to get to it," Dan added._

_"Then…what are we waiting for! I don't want to turn into an ice cube!" Runo said. With that they all took lighted up branches and made there way out of the cave._

Another set of tears made its way down Runo's face, the very last amount of tears left inside her. She wished she could go back in time and prevent what was going to happen, but …she couldn't do anything.

_The brawlers eyed the castle in awe. They never thought the castle would be that beautiful! It was the kind of castle the person will read about in fairy tales. They never thought that fairy tales existed, well, except Julie and Baron, who believes in anything, but the other were wrong.  
_

_After a while of staring; the group marched towards the white palace. Everything was going good, but there's one rule in this game, nothing should go well!_

_They were just a few meters away, when the ground beneath there feet started shaking! The ground, latterly, opened and swallowed them in._

…

…

_"Ouch, my head hurts! Hey, is everyone okay?" Dan asked getting himself off the ground._

_"Yes, but where are we?" Ace asked. The others got up and took a look around; it was a maze of underground tunnels! Where ever they look, they can see an opening leading to who knows where!_

_"What is this place?" Alice asked turning around, enjoying the bright reflections of their faces on the ice._

_"More important, how can we get out of here?" Hero asked not too impressed of where she was._

_Boom!_

_Boom!_

_Aloud foot steps echoed in the underground cave. The six teenagers turned around, their eyes widened at the sight._

_"Oh no! not again!" Ace shouted._

_"They're your friends?" Asked Dan, as he took a few steps backwards. Ace gazed at the three big foots standing in front of him; he couldn't believe time was repeating itself, only with two more guests! Like one of them wasn't enough.  
_

_"Listen, you have to run and FAST!" Ace screamed and ran towards one of the paths, with the others following closely._

_Once they stepped in the tunnels; their feet slipped and all of them fell on their backs. They were sliding down as if it was a water slide! __  
"WOHO, this is awesome!" Dan screamed. Others turned to look at him with annoyed looks; it looks like Dan was the only one who was enjoying it!_

_The big foots didn't just stand there doing nothing, they followed the brawlers down the icy slides, causing them to jump up and down a little. _

_Finally the ride came to a stop; the group reached the bottom, only to find something worse! They found themselves standing on thin ice, which was starting to break beneath their feet! _

_"Oh, crap," Dan murmured under his nose.  
_

_The brawlers tried to drag themselves to the other edge; they could hear the sound of the big foots approaching!_

_Dan, Ace, Baron and Hero managed to cross it safely, it was only Alice and Runo left there. The crack grew wider and both girls were now standing on a big floating piece of ice. When they thought it couldn't get worse; the big foots arrived to the scene. One of them couldn't control its balance and fell into the water providing a terrifying image to anyone's fate if he fell in!_

_The icy water was a lake of acid, which melts flesh off of the bones while its victim is still alive! Both girls were in a dangerous situation. Dan looked at them and felt completely helpless, the others felt the same. _

_"Bigger crap now," Dan murmured again only louder.  
_

_The other two big foots were standing on the floating pieces too, trying to find a way to get their delicious meal.  
Alice knew they were in real danger, she knew she had to do something to save her friend. She saw the edge was not that far from where they stood, but it needed a big jump to get to it._

_"Runo, when I say go, jump with all you can!" Runo looked at her friend confused, but nodded her head._

…

_"Go!" Alice said. Runo felt her friend giving her a push when she jumped. Runo landed safely on the other side; but… what Alice did made the thin ice beneath her move backwards, which meant she could not follow._

_"ALICE! JUMP! NOW" Runo shouted to her friend. The red head only gave her friend a sweet smile and shacked her head to say 'no'. Runo's tears started falling along with the others, all of them were speechless, completely._

_"Get out of here, now!" Alice said in a tearful tone. "You have to find Marucho! And stop Masquerade, please go!"T_

_"Not without you!" Runo cried. _

_"I can't, I'm sorry. Runo…you were my best friend ever! Don't forget me, because…I'll never forget you," she said and motioned Dan to get Runo out of there._

_Dan, after a little struggle managed to grab Runo's hand, and they alongside the others ran as fast as they could, away from that place. No one felt good that they had to leave Alice behind.  
_

_Alice only stood on the shrinking boat, with her eyes closed, not because she was scared. She was calm cause she knew she'll be with Shun soon enough._

…

_The others stopped in front of a wooden door; which they found at the end of their trail. Ace slowly opened the door, they quickly got inside and he closed the door behind. _

_The, now, five brawlers found themselves inside one of the champers of the castle they saw before._

_Only then, they breathed in air, only then they had time to absorb what had happened…_

…

_Silence_

…

_Only the sound of Runo crying was heard_

…

_They just realized that another member _

…

_Died!_

…

Runo's crying turned into sobs, without tears, only dry sobs.

"Hey, Runo?" Dan said as he approached the blue-haired girl. The sound of her sorrow waked him up.

They had decided to stay in the castle until the storm ends. They found beds made of ice in one of the champers, so they slept on them. It was not cold or anything, surprisingly they were really warm.

Runo raised her head to look at him; her eyes were red and he could see her stained cheeks. Dan came closer to her and put an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. Runo clenched to his shirt, and buried her head into his chest and began sobbing once more.

Dan tightened his grip on her, it hurt him so much to see the girl he loved in this condition. "Runo…please, stop," Runo only kept on going. "It was her choice, it wasn't your fault…"

"Maybe if she never helped me, then I would have been the one dead!"

"It was my fault…"

"Runo… she wanted this and you know it." Dan said in a soft tone. "At least now… they're together."

Runo raised her head again to see the sweet caring face of Dan she rarely see. A feeling of relief entered her heart as they both gazed at the starry snowy night.

* * *

_That's it for this chapter. And don't dare to tell me that it wasn't sweet and nice, it was way more better than that. As far as I'm aware the next chapter should be up soon. _

_Tell me and Shadowwing what you think. It's always nice to hear some other opinions too.  
_


	9. Marucho?

_Here is the next chap. I have to thank all the people who left some nice reviews. I am really happy that you like it as much as I do._

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 9 - Marucho?**

I let out a yawn as I got up from my bed. After blinking once or twice my vision became clear.

It was really hard to tell weather it was morning or not; since the sky was full of dark clouds. It was snowing heavily out side. I guess the blizzard didn't ware off yet.

I turned my head to the right. I saw Dan and Runo sleeping on the same bed. Runo laid her head on Dan's shoulder, while Dan was putting an arm around her waist. They looked sweet! Dan has been telling me how much it hurt him when they broke up for the millionth time! Runo told him that she will never forgive him that time. He has been trying to apologize for a while. I think now Runo accepted.

But, their faces were stained. It looked like they were crying the past night. Who can blame them? Both of them lost a dear friend. Even though Dan tries to be a tough guy, but deep down, I know that he misses Shun.

A sigh escaped my mouth. I had been friends with the brawlers for a while; the resistance as well. I know how each of them, act.

Dan always likes to be the hero of the day. He can be silly sometimes, but when the time comes, he can be a true leader. Runo, umm… she is tempered. But deeply cares about the team. She hates it when Dan thinks he's a better brawler than her, so she gives him a lesson. I do think they look good together.

As for mister hotshot; people think he's quite and sweet. He's not! Ya, he can stay calm when needed, but he always liked to pull pranks on us. Thank god we got Alice to straiten him up, she was actually able to get him out of his sadness time, the time when he lost his mother, and she was the sweetness missing in him.

A tear rolled down my cheek; it was hard to believe that both of them are gone. Mira and Julie too; they were the -enjoy your life- members of the group, always cheerful and smiling no mater what we were going through.

Ace likes to follow the rules, and Baron just likes to break them along with Dan. I only met Baron a while ago. He always told me about their adventures.

I shook my head, it's not the time to remember all this. I wish Marucho were here, he would have known what to do.  
Oh come on Hero, you did it again. Stop thinking about it!

Now that I took another look around, I realized I was the only one awake, so I decided to take a look around the place we stayed in.

The place was simply amazing! Everything was made of snow; the dinning room, the living room even the bathrooms were made of pure ice. Really weird, yet wonderful.

My legs stopped in front of another one of the many bedrooms. A piece of glass reflecting the candle's light drew my attention. I walked inside the room, my jaw nearly dropped to the ground when I saw what it was. I quickly grabbed it and ran back to the room we stayed in.

…

"Guys! WAKE UP!" I yelled. Ace and Baron shoot up, awake, from their beds, confusion written on their faces. Dan and Runo waked up slowly at first, but once they realized they were hugging each other, they parted, blushing.

Normally, I would have laughed at them, or at least teased them a little bit, but my head got something way important than that.

"Hero, what's wrong with you?" Ace shouted, angrily.

"Ya, what's the big deal?" Dan protested on waking him up. I guess he was enjoying himself.

"Look what I found!" I said and showed them what was in my hand, they all gasped.

"Wait a sec, Is that Marucho's glasses?" Dan asked, pointing the obvious. I just gave him a 'duh' look.

"But how did this happen? I mean, is he here?" Baron asked, still not believing.

"Maybe he's still in here. I think we should go look around," Runo stated. I nodded. Then we split in two teams, I went off with Baron while others went the other way.

…

After like two hours of searching every inch of the palace, we came out with nothing. He was no where to be found.

"I hate to say this. But I think Marucho left the palace. That means he's outside now," Runo said, worry showing in her voice.

I looked outside the window, the snow storm was not looking like it was to end soon. 'If he's out side then he's in danger, the blizzard is only growing heavier.' I voiced my thought to the others. We all had our faces down; a new decision must be made.

"We're going to find him! We agreed on staying here cause we wanted to find Marucho; so let's go and get him!" Dan said putting a fist in the air, cheering us all up. I told you he's a good leader!  
"Girls stay here, while we go and find him." He stated. Ok, maybe I spoke too soon.

"WHAT! DANIEL KUSO ARE YOU SAYING WE'RE WEAK AND CAN'T DEFEND OURSELVES?" Runo had had enough of him. Dan received another hit. I told you, she hates to be underestimated.

So after Dan forcefully agreed; we all made our way out of the castle.

…

I knelt to the ground, tiered. I only wanted to lay down, but I knew if I did, then I would die. Nothing was going well; we left the warmth of the palace to face the harsh climate of the outsides. We didn't go that far, but I felt each part of my body screaming. I could not even see my hand, and it was right IN FRONT of me! One thought was running through my mind, I want to sleep…

Just then I felt something warm being put on my shoulders; I looked at it and found out it was Baron's jacket. I smiled, though it was hard to smile, to my self and stood back on my legs and walked closely by him. He sure is a nice friend.

Runo was walking beside us alongside Ace and Dan. Dan had his goggles on so he can see through the storm and Ace was hugging himself. Runo, being a strong girl, didn't show any weakness, although her dress was short and she was bare foot. She is amazing!

I know we just started, but my hope in finding Marucho was getting smaller by the second. I don't think we're going to find him anytime soon…

"Ahhhhhh!"

We heard a loud scream; the sound fainted with the wind. But I was sure it was the little guy's voice. I looked at the others' faces, their expression showed they recognized the voice as well. Hope made its way to my heart again…

"Somebody help!"

The voice came out again. A monstrous voice was heard as well. That means Marucho is under attack. We knew which direction the sounds came from, but how can we get there in time?

I checked the place around me, I had to think fast. I, then, spotted a wooden thing buried under a pile of snow. I got the snow off of it, I didn't care that my hands were getting red. I managed to move all the snow, with the help of the others after they took notice to what was I doing, to reveal it was a big wooden door.

Yes! I turned to see Dan's expression; it was the same as mine. We were thinking the same thing. Quickly, we held it and put it on the snow as we motioned the others to hop in!

"Are you nuts? We can't see anything, how are you planning to ski down the mountain?" Ace asked, stated and asked again. I eyed him and questioned if he was scared, he glared at me back and sat down. Runo and Baron followed.

…

"This is awesome!" Dan screamed. Typical Dan. I tried to focus on steering this thing to get us to Marucho. Runo was holding tight to Dan's arm, I guess she is scared of something after all.

"Over there!" Baron pointed. We all looked in the direction, to find Marucho being chased by a white flying dinosaur! Great, new kinds of monsters!  
I turned the door, with another piece of wood, to its direction. Marucho was still trying to run, but he would stumble in rocks and stuff, yup, that's Marucho. When we reached him, Dan grabbed him and placed him on the door. The detractor tried to fight back, but thankfully we all managed to dodge it. We kept sliding down until we reached some trees, we stopped the 'slid' and hid in the trees. The dinosaur finally left.

We all turned our attention to Marucho; I gave him his glasses back. He placed it just above his nose, now that's the Marucho I know.

"Were have you been, man? We were all worried about you!" Dan said giving him a bear hug. I freed him from Dan's death grip and left a room for him to speak.

"I was taken by Masquerade to this weird place. Then I was placed inside a prison. It was horrible times, but I managed to escape, he was planning on killing you guys all during your search for me. He was going to kill me too. I learned about the others deaths. I'm sorry, I feel all this had happened because of me,'' he said. I gave him a normal hug, and comforted him a little, explaining it wasn't his fault.

He gave me a smile. "Guess what!" We all paid attention to him, while he was pushing his glasses further up. "During my prison time, I was able to uncover the secret of this place. It is a different world, separated into four parts, an ice mountain, which is our present place. A jungle full of ancient creatures and a desert. The fourth part is the place where masquerade stays and runs everything," he paused for a second. I wished he would say something other than that, because we already know this information.

"That's not all, I found a passage, a gate we can use to go back home." Now I was really happy, I can go back to my mother and grandmother. I miss my brother too.

"No, we won't get out until I kick that masked thing's butt!" Dan stated anger in his voice.

"But, Dan…I know you want revenge, but we can't do anything while we are in his area, we can fight him better from the outside," Runo said rapping her hand around him. Dan shook his head agreeing.

"Ya, Master Dan. Let's go," Baron spoke up after a long silence, he was really quite today.

With that we all got back on the door. I followed the directions Marucho gave me. It got us to a clearing with many huge white statues standing on every rock. The blizzard was shrinking, that's how we were able to see!

We made our way closer in the clearing. I gazed, as the others did, around, but I didn't find what Marucho told us about.  
"Marucho, are you sure this is the pla-" My words were cut short, out of fear. A scary evil grin appeared on Marucho's face. He was getting taller, his blonde hair turning in a even more bright blond and his blue clothes were replaced by a black leather suite. A young woman stood in front of us.

Must be one of masquerade's assistance's. I was terrified that I couldn't move. I can't believe that we walked to the trap ourselves!

The things only got worse, remember the statues? Well, they are not statues; they revealed themselves to be a bunch of the flying monsters we saw earlier.

"Enjoy your little play time fools, you are really easy!" was the last thing she said before disappearing.  
Ace kicked a rock out of his way, "We were stupid, and we fell for it! Now what?" he shouted angrily. If I just hadn't found those glasses, none of this would have happened! Oh…there's no time for this.

The 'birds' flew in the air, wanting to catch us from above. I quickly told the others to climb into the sliding door. We are not to fall without a fight!

We were able to dodge every attack, if we are lucky we'll be able to walk out of it alive. When ever an attack occurred; Baron did his best to keep us all from danger. He was a true hero!

We were getting closer to the edge between the two parts, the desert was ahead. But as I thought we escaped, the door stumbled on a rock; we all flew in the air.

I hit the ground hard, I tried standing up. My head was really in pain! I felt cold wind blow near by, only to realize it was one of the detractors! I couldn't move, I wanted to, but my legs had another thing in mind. I closed my eyes and waited for the hit, but it never came. Baron pushed me out of the way; the monster took him in stead, holding him by the shoulder with his claws.

"Baron, no!" I screamed helplessly sitting on the cold snow. Watching him disappearing through the clouds. I felt someone's arm holding mine. It was Runo's, she grabbed me tight and ran till we reached the desert. We were hit by a hot steaming wall of the sun's heat.

But…I paid no attention to that, I fell to the ground not caring about the heat, I started sobbing, hard. We lost another person. And it was my fault.

They let me cry, knowing that I needed to. After I was out off tears, I stood up and continued to walk with my head down.

Only four people were left, and we witnessed today what masquerade can do. I just wonder how much can we take anymore.

* * *

_Well, it was one heck of a chapter. Hope that you liked it. Tell me how it was. _

_Also, i think that from this point I will continue my self as Shadowwing has pulled me out of the hole that I made in this story.  
_


	10. Another Member, Lost

_Yeah, I know I haven't written anything in months and I still haven't. It's all thanks to Shadowwing cuz she wrote this next chapter. I'm just re-reading it and putting in some improvements._

**Chapter 10: Another member, lost.**

"Why do you seek revenge? Why…so desperately?" A voice spoke to the blonde male standing in front of him.

"Because, my life was ruined because of them. Don't you think they deserve to be punished?" the blonde spoke. He turned to look at the owner of the voice, who looked weirdly like him.

"Don't you?" he repeated looking straight at him.

"No, I don't. It happened a long time ago, shouldn't you just forgive and forget?" the young man told him, his voice dropping with concern and hurt.  
"They suffered enough, already. You killed most of them, just stop," he continued. The blonde male came closer and punched him in the face, cracking a part of his mask and sending him flying backwards and falling on the ground, in the middle of the fog surrounding them.

"I will never forget! You are so weak to even care about those humans, they are lowly creatures, so let go," he answered back, every word filled with hatred and rage.

…

"Sir, I'm here to give you the latest information," the blonde follower said to her master. Masquerade got up from the ground, he looked at the girl before without uttering a single word. His mask had a crack in it, and he was limping a bit. She gazed at him for quite a while, what would cause this? She, quickly, scanned the office, no one was there, and so who could have done this to her master.

"Are you going to look at me all day or are you going to talk?" he said coldly as he took his place on a chair. In front of him were monitors showing the brawlers looking at the sky of the desert, from the look on their faces, he knew they wanted water, some gray clouds maybe to cover the heat of the burning sun.

"Well, Baron was killed by the white detractors, the scam worked perfectly and they suspected nothing," she said, bowing.

"Good. What about our searching teams for that little Marucho?" he asked not tearing his gaze from the monitors.

"We are still looking, he ran away from prison a couple of weeks ago, he's probably either hiding in a far away place or he's already dead," she answered.

"I won't believe it till I see his body in front of me or…at least his skeleton," he said, as calm as ever, not letting coldness leave his tone. The girl nodded and was about to walk out of the room, when she stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around to face Masquerade.

"Master, I think you must find a way to stop your human side, he's trying to control you and…he may succeed," she stated. The next thing she knew, she was on the floor with a red mark on her left cheek, Masquerade standing in front of here.

"Don't ever speak of him! He is so weak to control himself, I control him and this body, do you hear me?" he said looking at her. His eyes were not apparent, but she was sure he was angry with her. She nodded her head and left putting a hand on her cheek.

The group that consisted of four members now, walked in the desert, aimlessly. Their bare feet were diving in the soft hot sand every time they walked, which was making their job harder. The heated sun was not making it better as well; it was draining the last amount of water they had in their bodies.

They were walking in silence, none was speaking. It was one of those uncomfortable silences. Everyone was trying to avoid each other's glances. They didn't know why it was happening to them, they were always fighting to protect people in many different planets, but that never happened to them; facing true life-threatening danger, where they stand in a position they don't know whom they are going to loose next.

"I am thirsty, want…some water," Hero said, she knew they all wanted the same thing; she knew it's not something they would be able to provide her with, but she couldn't help but voice it with her dry voice.  
"Can't we take a rest?"

"Just name a place, Hero. We are in the middle of the desert, there aren't even rocks to sit on and we definitely don't have any water…" Runo trailed off, feeling tired after voicing her sentence in one breath.  
"Though, having some would be good," she said then sat on the sand, not caring how hot it was.  
"Now I know what Shun had suffered,"  
Dan looked down at her; he bent down, grabbed her hand and sat her up straight on her feet. He looked at her with reassuring look, one that said: we'll make it. She only gave him a week smile, unlike him, she couldn't see good in their situation.

"Let's keep walking, 'kay?" he said and lead the way. The three sighed, but followed their leaders.

…

It was almost noon, now. Sun was above them, directly, sending more of her rays on them. They were sweating a lot. Each time a sweat drop fell, it evaporated almost instantly.

"I started missing the ice mountain," Ace stated, the others nodded.  
Their breathing was a lot harder for all they could breathe was hot air. They wished to have one cold pries enter their lungs, but it wasn't something to come true.

Dan looked ahead of them, searching for any signs of life across the desert. He thought he saw something, what looked like a tent or something in the horizon, he blinked once or twice to make sure and the tent was still there. He turned to look at the others, who barely had the strength to look at him.

"I think there are some people over there, maybe ten minutes away from us, we should…" he couldn't complete his sentence for he fell on the ground with his eyes closed. Runo went closer to him with much struggle and tried to wake him up, but she got no reply.

"I think he passed out because of the he…" Ace started but failed to continue as he dropped to the ground himself. Tears fell from Runo's eyes, now she stood alone with her three friends lying on the floor after Hero followed as well. She held Dan in her arms and started screaming for help.  
Her voice echoed in the place as she too, joined the group.

She slowly opened her eyes after she felt a hand on her shoulder trying to wake her up. She got up, putting a hand on her head for she felt really dizzy. She looked at the person beside her to find out it was Dan. She rapped her arms around his neck, causing him to fall backwards with her on top of him.  
They looked at each others eyes, lost in them. She was so happy he was alive. Without knowing, she started leaning in, Dan did nothing to fight her off, instead he started leaning as well.

"Get a room, will ya?" Ace said. Runo got off of Dan and moved her face away from his as he got up as well, cursing under his breath. Hero only giggled at their actions.

"Where are we?" Runo asked looking around. They were sitting on a carpet inside a white tent, with a basket full of food next to them.

"We don't know, but I think in the tent I saw earlier. Here," he explained then gave her a pottery glass filled with pure water, which she took happily and drank it.

The tent was opened; the brawlers closed their eyes and hid their faces from the sun. When the place got dark again, they reopened their eyes. Two black creatures stood in front of them, they were wearing a skirt made of straw and they didn't look human. The brawlers gazed with fear as the two figures started touching their hands and faces, more like pinching them in a painful way.

"HEY! Get off of me!" Runo snapped and hit the figure's hand away from her. The figure looked at his hand with pain in his weird looking eyes.

"I think what Runo is trying to say is: We…Thank…You…But...We…Must…Leave…Now," Dan said each word slowly to make sure they understood, he didn't know if they spoke their language.

"No, you must stay for lunch," One of them said, the other creature nodded.

The four humans exchanged looks, and then nodded their heads agreeing, they got surprised a bit the creatures knew how to speak English, but they were glad for they got a free lunch invitation. The figures smiled, Runo had to admit it was the scariest smile she had ever seen for they had two sets of fangs for teeth, and then they walked outside taking the brawlers with them.

…

The Indian like creatures started circling the black bowl, which had boiling water in it, while some played music with wooden instruments.  
Dan and the others watched from a shadowed area, with strange looks on their faces. The ceremonies the creatures did were like something they never saw before. They used to see it on TV, but not in real life. But, that didn't mean they weren't enjoying it.

Hero called for one of them to come closer. He made his way to the place where she sat with the others.  
"What are you cooking?" She asked him. Dan nodded wanting to know too, Ace and Runo sighed.

"You humans," he answered and walked away. Hero stiffened a bit then looked at Dan.

"Did he say what I think he did?" She asked looking at the huge cooking bowl in front of her.

"Yes, Hero I think so," Dan said.

"What should we do now?" Ace said, joining the conversation upon hearing they were going to be made a lunch meal.

"I think we should run," Dan said and the four of them started screaming and running away, forgetting about the burning sun of the desert.

The clan warriors didn't liked their food running away, so they followed them, holding spears and knifes with a blood-thirsty look in their eyes.

They brawlers kept running deeper and deeper in the desert, in a speed they thought they'll never reach. Apparently, when wanting to save your life you run like there's no tomorrow.

Runo looked ahead and spotted some trees in the distance, they must have reached the jungle, again. She voiced that statement. They picked up their pace to get there before the angry black creatures get them. The creatures did the same and started throwing their spears at them, which the brawlers barely managed to avoid.

Abruptly, the creatures stopped throwing their weapons; they stopped chasing them as well. The brawlers turned to look at them with confused expressions, the creatures only stood there, not moving an inch closer to them.

"I think I know what's wrong," Ace said with a horrified look on his face as he pointed to his right. The others turned to look the way he pointed at. One of the spears was sinking in the sand, little by little till he was completely engulfed by it.

"Quick…sand," Dan stated the obvious, he looked at his feet to make sure they weren't sinking. Luckily, they weren't.

"What do we do now?" asked Hero.

"Run, as fast as we could," Dan said and held Runo's hand and ran as fast as he can, without looking back. Ace ran after him followed by Hero.

Hero ran quickly after the others, but she tripped over a rock and fell face first on the sand, her backpack flew a couple of feet forward. She got up and went to get her pack, only to discover it got caught in quick sand and, now, so is she. She tried running, but her legs were sinking faster each time she tried to. Fear made its way to hear heart as she started screaming for the others to help her.

Ace heard her calls and started running towards her. Dan heard her as well, but he made no move to go back; he knew it was risky.  
When Ace got to her, the sand reached her waist. He got closer to her and tried to grab her hand, without getting sucked in himself. She stretched her hand as far as she could, and he was able to catch her hand. He started pulling her out, but she kept diving in the sea of sand, no matter how much effort he made to get her out, but he refused to let go.

Sadly, his fingers said something else. Because of the heat and running, his hand got sweaty, he started loosing the grip on Hero's hand till it slipped, the impact send him to the floor, but he stood again and went to save her, only to see the last part of her hand disappear.

"HERO!" he screamed her name. "I failed…again," he added, punching the sand.


	11. Back In The Jungle

**Chapter 11: Back in the jungle.**

The remaining brawlers walked through the thick trees of the jungle. Sadness, sorrow and fear printed on their faces. They kept close as a group to avoid any ambush from Masquerade and his annoying assistant.

Ace walked in front of Dan and Runo, slashing the branches and leaves that were to stand in their way. At some points, he would go far to check dark caves, holes and behind trees to check for any danger. Dan had asked him a few times to stop doing so, fearing he might get hurt, but Ace never listened.

He felt guilty, a lot, for what happened to Hero and…Mira. In both times he was so close to save them, but he would always weaken and their hands would slip away from his. Because of him, the girl he loved was now history and he promised himself that what had happened will not happen again.

The three of them sat down after a while, out of exhaustion. Dan drank some water from the pot they had taken and handed it over to Runo, who drank some as well. When she handed it over to Ace, he just refused to drink and put it back on the ground. Dan looked at him concerned.

"Man, I know you feel bad, but…you shouldn't do that to yourself," Dan said and placed a hand on Ace's shoulder. Ace slapped it away.

"You don't get it! I killed them, both of them and…I don't know what to do about it now. They're gone and it's my entire fault!" he said as tears ran down his cheeks.

"They were our friends too, you know! I had a chance to save Julie too, but I thought she was an impostor, she's dead because of me, but I didn't let that affect me. We must keep going no matter what. I don't like it either, but it's the only way," Dan shouted his sentences until he reached the last one where his voice softened. Ace wiped his tears and turned his face away.

"I just know that what ever it takes me, I won't let anything happen to you two, lovebirds," he said and had a smirk on his face as he looked at Dan.

Dan and Runo instantly blushed. Dan started scratching his cheek while looking away. Runo raised her hand and for the first time, her fist found a new target, Ace's head. The said guy put both hands on his head and shouted in pain, he should have expected that from Runo.

"We are not lovebirds. And, for your information, we won't need anyone to rescue us. I'm sure we'll find Marucho and get out of here," Runo said, confidently.

"Maybe, I hope so," Ace said and was off to stare at the sky once more. Dan sighed.

"Baron and I knew this would happen," Dan whispered. Runo looked at him. "After all, Mira did die here. That's why we went to the ice mountain, for him to stop thinking about it,"

"Well, I'm sure he'll be…ok?" Runo said, but her statement was pronounced as a question. She wasn't sure they were to succeed. Dan looked at her concerned, understanding what she had in mind.

It wasn't an easy thing they went through in that past time. They were nine, ten with Marucho, and now only three of them remained to look for their genius friend, who is some where of that world. They had passed two places in that world, checked them really good, but still there was no sign of him. He might have returned to the mountain or the desert. It felt they were running in a loop.

Masquerade and the brawlers had their arguments, but it was all in the past. Why was he seeking for revenge so desperately while he had helped them in their battles, they never knew. He wanted one to live, from the four that remained, or at least they were hoping Marucho was alive. Masquerade relied on his minions to kill the brawlers, one by one, and they were doing a fine job.

Julie, Shun, Mira, Alice, Baron and Hero. They all died trying to escape, some even died sacrificing themselves in the process. Dan feared that their efforts were to be wasted. He never knew if they could survive.

* * *

"Master, the brawlers are back in the jungle," The blonde assistant said as she knelt down before the chair Masquerade sat on. Masquerade turned t_o_ face her.

"What are you waiting for? Release the newest beast!" He nearly yelled.

The young lady was about to leave, but was stopped by her master falling on the floor while placing his head in his hands. Sweat dripped down his face and he was battling with his own self. She stood there, petrified by fear. Abruptly he stopped. He looked up at her, panting.

"No! Open a portal and release them!" He said. She looked at him, confused. Why was he giving up on his plan?

"Are you sure, master?" She asked. He nodded.

"Yes, no g-" he was interrupted by another fight between him and himself. He looked at her, still battling, and screamed in pain.

"You are not to control this body! I was able to stop you all that time and I shall continue," he said and he started glowing yellow. This scared the lady and she was about to run, but was stopped by Masquerade's voice.

"Don't open any portals. Do as I said before and release the creature," He said, regaining his deep, calm voice. She bowed and left, still puzzled by what she had seen.

"Those brawlers won't know what had hit them!" he stated with an evil laugh.

* * *

Ace, Runo and Dan were walking down the thick path of trees with Ace still leading. Dan walked behind Ace and in front of Runo, willing to save her as well. Abruptly, a roaring voice was heard, sending scary images inside the brawlers' heads.

They started backing away from the source of the noise. The rustling stopped; then a huge snake appeared before them. They started running at full speed, moved by fear of losing their lives to that beast. Dan was holding Runo's hand as he ran with his head down, scared to look back. But…he did…

At some point of the runaway, he stopped hearing the double sound of footsteps he had to hear. He stopped and Runo stopped as well. They both looked behind to find Ace standing in front of the snake, holding a wooden stick in his hand. They watched as Ace dodged an attack from the snake.

"Ace! Come back here!" Dan shouted at the top of his lungs.

"No! You guys go ahead and hide, I'll distract it!" he shouted back as he hit the snake with his stick that broke once it touched the hard scales of the snake.

"We can't leave you here!" Runo yelled.

"Yes, you can, now go. I don't think I can hold it much longer!" Ace yelled.

He attempted to punch the snake with his bare hands, which did nothing to the beast. Next thing he knew, he was being engulfed by the snake's tail. Its muscles were pressing harder and harder, trapping Ace within the snake's body. Dan held Runo's hand and ran as fast as he could with tears streaming down his face.

"Dan! We can't leave him there!" Runo said while crying.

"We…have to. We can't do anything Runo! I'm not so happy about it too," He said and slowed down when he found a hollowed tree. He let Runo go in first and then he followed.

Dan sat next to Runo and gave her a light hug, to reassure her and him. They lost Ace and now, they were the only ones left. Their mission was to find Marucho, but they didn't even found one clue that lead them to the boy's whereabouts, Dan started even doubting Marucho was even here. Maybe it was just a trick from Masquerade to force them to stay. He didn't like that one bit.

He wanted to confront the last one surviving. Only one. Dan was sure Masquerade was to do anything to eliminate him or Runo. He just wondered, would it be him or Runo? He loved Runo with all his heart, but…was he willing to give his life for her?

The answer simply was…yes.


End file.
